Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of Women Friends

A minute establishing a Women's Yearly Meeting in Philadelphia is dated 1681; the first recorded minutes begin in 1691. Quaker men and women worshiped together and women appeared in ministry equal with their male counterparts, but business was generally conducted separately at all levels of Friends’ organization until the 19th century. In general, the business of a women’s yearly meeting was to care for the poor, to see to the education of children, and to communicate with other women’s meetings on matters of concern.